Rainey with a chance of sunshine

As most of us know by now (spoiler alert) Rachel Greene did in fact get off the plane to be with her one true love Ross Geller in the final season of ‘Friends’. It’s a love story that the world may never forget.

So, when Cork singer-songwriter Stephanie Rainey was working on her latest love song, is it any wonder the line, "I think we're like Ross and Rachel and everybody knows the way that goes", popped into her head?

Rainey’s latest single ‘Ross & Rachel’ drops tomorrow (Friday) and already there’s a serious buzz around it with Stephanie herself saying she can’t wait for the world to hear it.

“I'm so excited about this because it's a song I've had for a little while and one that people have been really excited about. Growing up, I loved ‘Friends’. I don't know anybody who didn't watch it. It was just one of those things, we were working on the song and the line just kind of came out. Because everybody knows the story of Ross and Racheal, the ups and downs and twists and turns, but ultimately, they're two people that are meant to be together,” she says.

Obviously the next question was to ask who her favourite ‘Friends’ character is.

“Oh my God, I love Ross. I was sick a couple of weeks ago and I was laid up on the couch and I was researching things for the video we’re shooting for the song. I happened upon some classic Ross episodes like the one where he has the keyboard! He's just such a quirky character, he has such a journey and so many great moments,” she says.

The new track is a collaboration with fellow Cork musician Cian Ducrot and Rainey says, even though she doesn’t have a set way of writing songs, she usually is at her best when working with others.

“I find it hard to pinpoint exactly how I write a song. Sometimes I write a song and I'm like, ‘How the hell did I write that?’. For every really great song you write, there are five or six that are only okay and might not make the grade. Then it's a long process of getting it recorded and mastered, so within all of that you've heard the song so much that you become a bit numb to it. But then when you have the release date, you get that buzz back again knowing that it's not just for you - it's going to be for everyone.

“I love collaborating and co-writing songs. I think I've always got the best results from my songs when I write them with other people. I think it breaks you out of your own cycle,” says Stephanie.

Since her career took off back in 2015 with her hit song ‘Please Don’t Go’, Stephanie has been around the block more than a few times. Just before the pandemic hit, she was in LA where she performed a showcase gig for “industry people” at the famous Hotel Café, as well as recording the video for her previous release ‘No Cowboy’ on Hollywood Boulevard.

“I've been there a couple of times and the last time was one of my favourite times. I think I knew what to expect and how to embrace it a little bit more. I'd wanted to play in that venue for years because I'm a huge John Mayer fan and he used to play there often and still does.

“On one hand, LA looks like the glamorous, glitzy Hollywood walk of fame, but there's so much sadness there, so much homelessness and poverty. It's a very strange place. The song ‘No Cowboy’ was my reflection on my journey through the music industry and the highs and lows of it,” says Stephanie.

Having poured her energy into the writing and recording process over the last year, Stephanie says she can’t wait to get back on stage for what she says will be an “emotional thing”.

“The one thing you can never replace in this world is a live audience. I think we've done as much as we can with the virtual thing, and it's been great, but there's nothing like the energy of a room full of people. The idea of stepping on to a stage and people are sitting close to each other and friends have their arms around each other and going mad – it’s something that will never be taken for granted again,” she says.

Having never released a full-length album, Stephanie says it’s still her dream to do so but she knows she must get the timing right in a “world of singles”.

“You have to be set up with enough support and fanbase. It's really important to me to do that because I think everyone is trying to write the next hit. I've got so many songs and releasing them as singles is a slow process; it’s like releasing one chapter of a book at a time. A full album is the dream,” she says.

Rainey, whose last proper gig was in 2019, has a number of shows booked for later in the year but says the uncertainty of when she can perform again is the most frustrating aspect of all that has happened with Covid.

“The frustrating thing for musicians is that there's a huge lack of communication there. There's just no end in sight. Bands are booking gigs and they're hopeful that they'll go ahead, but there's that air of uncertainty. The frustration isn't that we can't do it, it's that we don't know when we will be able to again.”